Tipsy Nipper

As most members will no doubt be aware we lost David last weekend in an accident involving his own design Leburg Sparrow. (Roughly Nipper sized, single seat, and powered by a VW).
Early reports suggest that it may have been a stall/spin after an attempted turnback following EFATO. Of course a detailed and accurate report will be published in due course by AAIB.
I never met David, but we spoke on several occasions regarding his excellent magneto replacement and generator system, the Leburg.
I have this fitted to NIPR and cant sing its praises highly enough.
I had the pleasure of meeting Davids wife, Edith, by sheer fluke when sat on an Easyjet going to Inverness. Small talk led to us realising that I knew her husband and his aeroplane! Truly a small world indeed! My thoughts are with her and the extended family at this time.
As the days pass I am sure we will all be keen to know what led to the engine stopping on a well maintained and very well put together aircraft, time will tell.
In the meantime it would be nice if those of you with memories of David felt able to post a few words on this site. Over to you...

Rest in peace 'Mr Leburg'.

Paul.
G-NIPR.

I had the pleasure to meet David at Fenland, he took the trouble to allow me to see him assemble the Sparrow which took no time at all. An excellent design (his own) and well built protortype. We went off flying together and enjoyed a very pleasant day. He also took much time and trouble to help me with the wing load test after my "out-field landing" when the LAA really weren't interested. I spoke on the phone with him often, and he was always approachable, helpful and interesting to talk to. A very understated and clever chap. It was his ignition system that got us together, and I was looking forward to spending more time with him this year, in fact I emailed him to arrange a get-together 30mins before his accident.
My heart goes out to his family, the aftermath of events like this I know only too well.
I shall miss him.
Neil

I heard the news of a crash whilst in Spain but only found out it was David when we got home last evening and saw it on this site. I had hoped to meet David shortly in order to hand over a canopy for one of his aeroplane designs, purely a guesture in return for all the help he has given me in sorting out G-AXLI. He was a clever yet entertaining character and he will be sadly missed by all of us who became swept up by his enthusisam.
Like others I pass on my sympathies to his wife and family.

David G-ARBG

Leburg
by henry mickleburgh » Thu Sep 17, 2009 2:58 pm

Hi,

As some of you may be aware, David Mickleburgh, the inventor of the Leburg Electronic Ignition System for VW, Continental, KFM and other suitable engines, died suddenly after take-off from Fenland in February this year.

The kindness of the Aviation Community has been remarkable. Dad was a unique man whom we all miss terribly.

Subsequently, I have been approached by several people who have extolled the virtues of the Leburg system and I've been tactfully cajoled into restarting production and providing support for owners.

It's been a learning curve and I'm not close to levelling out yet, but the help of some really top Flyers has been crucial and I, frankly, would not have been able to do it without them.

There's a new website, simply: http://www.leburg.com which will have installation tips and advice (some of it from Dad's previous forum posts) News (I'm looking at some Cri Cri to see if the leburg system can be suited to them) There's an installation gallery with owners' quotes, photos and videos, products and contacts page.

My contact details are on there and I would really appreciate previous owner input. Please send anything you have to henry@leburg.com

Hopefully, it'll be more than just a contact to obtain kits and provide an interesting and useful resource for past and future owners.

Although the website is now 'live' I won't be able to confirm product prices until the end of September as I need to finalise the new (and considerably extended) supply chain.

I'd appreciate it if forumites with access to other forums could spread this post for me.

Thanks,

Henry Mickleburgh